Insomnia
by Crystal Volcheck
Summary: An anon Kico request from Tumblr Kowalski has never been able to sleep and has accepted that fact, but that doesn't mean he enjoys the countless thoughts that never cease without a distraction. Thankfully, he isn't the only one who can't sleep.


**This was a request I recieved on my Tumblr, but from a anon, but that's cool since Kico is my OPT.**

**Peguins of Madagascar isn't mine and I make no profit from this **

**so without further interruption...**

* * *

_Insomnia_

Kowalski groaned opening his eyes, the odd silence putting him on edge, but he soon relaxed realizing that he had just fallen asleep in his lab. It had become almost a daily occurrence; Skipper had told him that he was going to work himself to death. However, what did Skipper know? He wasn't the one whose head was swimming with endless equations and ideas, a never-ending torment rendering him unable to sleep.

"Great my blueprints are ruined." He muttered darkly noting the unreadable smudges that used to be his greatest invention to date. An invention that only had a 53% of destroying the world, he might add, but that was ruined. Kowalski sighed opening the door of his lab before turning out the light; he would just have to work on the plans again tomorrow.

"W'alski?" a rough voice asked from the corner of the room, startling the scientist.

"R-rico? What are you doing up?" the weapons expert looked away sadly, tracing his scar, letting the pencil in his hand fall onto the floor.

"Nightmares." Was the broken response, Kowalski understanding perfectly in that moment. They had rescued Rico from an animal testing lab in Chile years ago even before Private had transferred from the United Kingdom, it had been one of his first missions as well as Manfredi and Johnson's last. The younger penguin had been different back then, quiet and withdrawn, afraid of nearly anyone. Oddly enough, the scientist had been lucky enough to gain Rico's trust.

"It's not going to happen again." The words fell from his beak before he even had a chance to think about what he was saying, his feet moving him closer to Rico on their own accord. Nevertheless, he was met with a look of pure disbelief, that's when he noticed how oddly green the other's eyes were. An almost sea green, not green enough to be called that on their own, but enough to distinguish them from blue. Lately he had been noticing many little things about Rico, like how expressive he was, his facial expressions making up from his lack of voice. Or how he was rather calm, insanity coming in brief lapses in time, just often enough to throw everyone off.

"Why are you up?"

"My mind never wants to shut down. There's so much I want to know." Rico chuckled at the other in amusement.

"Nerd."

"Commander's pet." The two laughed for a moment, not caring if they woke the other two members of their team. It was moments like these, in which they could forget everything, the monsters retreated into the corners of Rico's mind and the equations faded out into the endless pools of facts in Kowalski's mind. Lately something had been occurring between them, making these moments far less rare than they had been in the past.

"W'alski." Rico held out his sketchbook for the older male, feeling a blush rise beneath his feathers. The scientist looked confused for a moment, but finally accepted. Every page was filled with drawing of the two of them, practically a record of the years they had known each other. But the last image threw Kowalski off the most, it was of them standing just has they were now in the middle of HQ. Only in the picture, instead of Rico offering him his sketchbook, he was offering him his heart.

"Rico…"he couldn't find the words, unsure of how to even answer, unsure of his feeling towards the other male.

"Experiment." He barely caught Rico's hoarse whisper, but understood it all the same. It could just be an experiment, nothing serious, just testing the water. Kowalski stepped forward, still unable to find his voice and nuzzled Rico's neck in reply, suddenly finding himself growing tired. Perhaps this would be the solution to his insomnia, his mind for once still as Rico returned the favor


End file.
